


Parenting is Hard

by EddColaBoy (UniqueMemoria)



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Communist Family, M/M, That's it, They raise Tord, its cute ok, lmao im not gone continue this sorr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-21 22:06:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8262040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UniqueMemoria/pseuds/EddColaBoy
Summary: Paul and Patryk have to raise their devil son, Tord.





	1. Screaming

Screaming. Screaming. _Screaming._  
  
It seemed it was all their little boy was capable of doing. If even the smallest little thing upset Tord, he only immediately started screaming. Whether it was in hopes of the problem somehow being fixed, Paul wasn’t sure. But god he wished he knew how to stop it from happening.  
  
Tord wasn’t exactly an infant or toddler anymore, so he was starting to grow a little frustrated. He was like 6 years old now! Didn’t this kind of behavior stop after the baby stage?? Was he wrong? Patryk didn’t seem to care too much, and he was actually pretty good at calming the screaming boy down when the screams started.  
  
It was just another day of screaming. They just got Tord back from school, and while getting him a small afterschool snack. Though Paul wasn’t really paying attention at the time, It was clear what sparked up the screaming fit. He spilled his cup of milk. Patryk was already quick to start cleaning up the mess, setting the tipped cup back upright and grabbing some paper towels to soak up the milk before it made a bigger mess.  
  
Paul figured Patryk was busy this time around, so he’d have to be the one to try to calm the boy down. Somehow. He sighed a little and stepped over, lifting the boy up into his arms and hushing him gently. “Shh.. hey, hey we can get you some more milk, okay? It’s no problem..” He winced, the screams only continuing, making Paul frown. Did he just not like him? Patryk got him calm so easily usually.  
  
Patryk managed to clean up the mess without much problem and glanced over at the two. He reached over and easily took the screaming child from Paul’s arms. He made the same small hushing sounds Paul had done, and rubbed the boy’s back a little. “Shh.. you’re okay. Let’s get you some more milk.” The screams only barely lowered in volume, but even so Paul noticed how they had lowered _at all_.   
  
Paul frowned, rolling his eyes and leaning on the counter as he watched Patryk open the fridge to grab the milk again. He held onto Tord with one arm and used the other to pour more milk into the previous cup. He lifted the cup up and handed it to Tord and watched as the crying screams quickly stopped. He smiled, sitting Tord back down in his seat and patting his hair a little. “There you go. All better, right?”  
  
Tord gave a nod, holding his cup more carefully now than he had before, sipping his milk calmly now. He was only slightly sniffling now, mostly calm after Patryk’s comforting.  
  
Paul sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out his stashed box of cigarettes and pulling one of them out. He pushed it into his mouth and almost flinched when he heard a quick reaction from Patryk.   
  
“Paul! I thought we agreed you were stopping-”  
  
“I’m not lighting it.” Paul quickly explained, leaning on the counter again, glancing to Tord, who still drank at his milk, and sometimes ate at the small plate of snacks the two had given him. “He doesn’t like me.”  
  
Patryk blinked, raising a brow and stepped over to him, wrapping an arm around one of Paul’s. “What are you talking about? He loves you, Paul.”  
  
Paul frowned, still watching his kid before looking to Patryk instead. “Then why doesn’t he calm down when _I_ try to comfort him, but he does when you do?” He blinked, hearing Patryk laugh a little right after he asked so. “What?”  
  
“You’re letting _that_ judge if he loves you or not? Paul..” Patryk sighed, nuzzling against his face a little. “He loves you. Why don’t you ask him?”  
  
“What?” Paul repeated the word.  
  
“Ask him.” Patryk let go of his arm, and pushed him a little, motioning to the small boy.   
  
Paul hesitated, but not wanting to seem afraid to simply ask his child a question, he stepped over, leaning down slightly to be closer to Tord’s height. “Hey, Tord?”  
  
Tord was munching on a carrot when Paul got his attention, glancing to him and finishing up his carrot before replying. “Yea?”  
  
“Do you like me?” Paul asked simply, glancing towards Patryk, who was watching with amusement. Paul’s attention was quickly pulled back to Tord though, as he felt the small arms wrap around his waist suddenly.  
  
“I love you!” Tord answered the question he had been asked easily, smiling brightly up at him.  
  
Paul widened his eyes a little, before softening his expression and smiling down at him, resting a hand on top of Tord’s head. “I’m glad to hear that. I love you too.”  
  
“Yay!!” Tord cheered, pleased to hear so. Figuring he no longer needed his attention, Tord hopped back down into his chair and stuffed another carrot into his mouth, beginning to snack on the food again.  
  
“See~?” Patryk teased as Paul walked back over to him instead. He chuckled when Paul nudged his shoulder a little, playfully sticking his tongue out in his direction.  
  
“Yeah, yeah..” Paul was relieved to be reminded Tord still liked him. But, he still really wanted to learn how to comfort him properly.  
  
Oh well. Patryk was always there for that job, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's okay Paul. He loves you at least!! (:


	2. Playground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smol boy Tord has a crush.

Tord was 9 years old now and he was starting to realize he liked a boy in his class. He.. _like_ liked someone!! Tord did everything he could to try and get the boy to realize he liked him, but nothing seemed to work! He always got upset with him!  
  
Tord tried complementing the boy when he had the chance. The boy, Tom, never seemed too happy about the complements.  
  
\-     -     -  
  
_“Tom!! Tom!!! Tom!!!!!” Tord’s voice rang out across the playground. It was recess, usually the time he had chances to try and get the boy’s attention. Or talk to to him at all, really._  
  
_Tom frowned, hugging his little bear he always had with him closer to his chest, narrowing his eyes as the boy calling his name ran up to him. “Go away!!”_  
  
_“But I wanted to tell you something!” Tord grinned, giggling a little and pointing at the boy’s nonexistent eyes. “Your eyes are weird!” He meant it in a good way, but of course, it wasn’t going to be taken as a good thing._  
  
_Tom gripped tighter onto his bear, raising a free hand to cover one of his eyes. He stepped back a little and sniffled, tears suddenly coming to the sockets. He was quickly put to sobbing, and ran off, likely to find either Matt or a teacher to cry to._  
  
_“Wait!!! Why are you crying?!” Tord tried to call out, frowning and watching him run. He pouted, crossing his arms and blinking at the tears that pricked at his eyes._  
  
\- _-_ -  
  
That was only one of the many times it didn’t go well. He’d tried everything! He tried telling him how funny his hair was! How cute his bear was! Nothing seemed to work. He was growing frustrated.  
  
He was going to really get his attention today though! Tom always had his attention on that little bear of his. So, maybe if he took it from him, the attention would finally be on him instead!  
  
So, Tord waited throughout the day, planning for a chance to take the small plush from him. But this proved harder than he imagined it would be.. He never put the dumb thing down! Tord was growing frustrated, pouting a little as they were sent off to recess again. He finally gave up on trying to be sneaky about it, and walked over to Tom after a minute or so of Recess starting. He didn’t call his name like usual though, and he didn’t have much of a smile on his face.  
  
Tom only barely noticed him when he got close, he did notice however, his small bear suddenly not being in his arms. Tord had yanked it away from him.  
  
“Pay attention to mee! I like you and all you do is cry and hug onto this thing!!” Tord was slightly taller than Tom at this point in time, so it wasn’t hard for him to easily hold the bear out of his reach.   
  
Having his comfort item be taken away didn’t spell too good for the small boy, and he barely registered the larger boy’s words. He simply began to tremble, and tears filled his eyes quickly, and it wasn’t long before he began to sob, but due to not wanting to run away from his bear, he plopped down on the ground and rubbed at his eyes with his fists.  
  
Tord’s expression softened again, guilt filling him quickly. He gulped, looking at the bear in his arms and frowned. He only grew a little frustrated though, tears pricking the corner of his eyes as he reluctantly shoved the bear back in Tom’s direction. Tom’s crying quieted quickly after he did so. “I-  I’m sorry..” Tord mumbled, fiddling his hands together before shoving them in his over-sized hoodie’s pockets.  
  
He didn’t say another thing, and simply turned, walking away from the sniffling boy. Maybe he really did just not like him. That was fine..  
  
_It wasn’t fine_ .  
  
Tord managed to hold himself together for the rest of the school day, but as soon as Patryk and Paul came to pick him up from school, he broke down, crying his eyes out in the back seat of the car.  
  
Needless to say, Paul and Patryk were filled with a mix of confusion and worry. Patryk kept himself turned in his seat so he could reach back and rub at the crying boy’s leg a little, trying to comfort him out of crying. They didn’t bother asking what’s wrong, knowing he wouldn’t be able to answer while crying anyway. So.. first step, calm him down.  
  
Once they arrived home, they made their way out of the car, and Patryk opened the back door, unbuckling Tord and lifting him up into his arms, giving Paul Tord’s backpack after taking it off his back. “Shh…”   
  
Tord immediately clung onto the man once he was lifted up, burying his wet face against him and clutching his small hands against his clothing.  
  
Paul frowned, opening the front door for the two to enter the house and then followed after, setting down Tord’s bag in the usual spot it was at. He followed them to the living room, sitting down next to Patryk and ruffled Tord’s hair a little, noticing his cries finally calmed at least a little. “What’s wrong, buddy.”   
  
Patryk was rubbing Tord’s back, leaning back to try and get a look at his face. “Why are you crying?”   
  
“B-Boy.. Boy at..” Tord sniffled, rubbing at his face with his fists, lip quivering as he struggled to talk. “Boy at s-school I.. I like but he d-d..doesn’t like me t-t-too..” Tord broke into sobs again as he finished his sentence, pressing his face back against Patryk again.  
  
“Ahh… I see.” Paul sighed, leaning back against the couch. “Well, did you tell him you liked him?”  
  
Tord only nodded.  
  
Patryk spoke up next, still rubbing Tord’s back slowly. “How did you tell him?”   
  
Tord went quiet, and curled himself up more against Patryk, shaking his head to indicate he didn’t want to say.   
  
“Tord..”   
  
Tord flinched as he heard Patryk drag out his name, making him feel inclined to answer. “I-... I t-took his be-bear.. And he g-got upset even after I t-told him I liked him..” Tord admitted, sniffling again. “I t-thought if I t-t-took the bear he’d give me a-attention..”  
  
Patryk kept his gaze down on the boy against him, giving him a slightly pitying look, rubbing his shoulder with another hand now, along with the one on his back.  
  
Paul had a sympathetic smile on his face, leaning to attempt to see Tord’s face, but finding it impossible with it still buried in Patryk’s chest. “Tord, you can’t do stuff like that. Why don’t you apologize to that boy tomorrow and try giving him something nice to make up for it. Like one of your toys or something.. You have plenty of them.”   
  
Tord’s face finally peeked up from the man’s chest, sniffling and quieting down a little. “R-Really..? Will he like me t-then..?”   
  
“That depends. You’ll just have to see what happens.. At the very least, he might forgive you for your behavior. Isn’t that good enough, hm?” Patryk hummed, ruffling the boy’s hair a little.   
  
Tord nodded, rubbing at his face and wiping the wetness off of it as he finally calmed down with their comforts.  
  
Patryk sighed a bit in relief, standing back up and setting Tord down on his feet, brushing some tears from his face. “Come on, let’s go get you your after school snack, okay?”   
  
Paul pushed himself up, and stepped over to the kid, chuckling and ruffling his hair much rougher than Patryk had. “Come on, perk up kiddo. He’ll forgive ya.” He grinned, hearing this earn a giggle from Tord, having his hand pushed away.  
  
“Whatever! I’m hungry!” And like that, Tord was back up in action, running off towards the kitchen.   
  
“See, you can cheer him up.” Patryk teased, nudging Paul’s side a little as he walked after the small boy. He only earned a grunt from Paul, who got to work on getting the afternoon snack ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay! ;3  
> tord will be a lil older in the next chapter!


	3. Uh Oh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tord gets into a small fight at school. Uh oh.

Another day. Another problem. Another possible scolding from Patryk. Possible…? No, more like,  _definitely_ another scolding from Patryk.  
  
Tord had dreaded making his way home ever since the incident earlier that day at school. He may or may not have ended up in a slight fist fight with one of his friends, Tom. Yes! That boy he liked. Turns out, they made the same friend the year after. Edd. So, in the end, they were kinda forced to hang out with each other. Tord was excited at first, but now, they didn’t get along that often.  
  
Today was no different. They got into some petty argument, like usual, and this time Edd was getting fed up. So, in the midst of their argument, Edd attempted to intervene, and step between them. But.. that had been just as Tord went to shove Tom back, ending up in him shoving Edd instead. Tom was not happy.  
  
So, with a furious Tom mixing into their already tense atmosphere, Tord may have punched Tom in the face. And knocked out one of his teeth. And got in trouble. He’d already been told a few times now to stop with the fights, but he’d never done this bad. The most he’d done is shove people to the ground or trip them, and in 10 year old world, that was counted as a ‘fight’.  
  
Tord _did_ end up lucky enough to not have to deal with Patryk or Paul coming down to the school, but they did however, get a call from his teacher. He hoped Paul picked up and not Patryk… if Paul did he might be nice and not tell Pat what happened.  
  
But….As he opened the front door to his home, he froze in the doorway, his stomach going a little all over the place with anxiety.  
  
“Tord.” Patryk’s voice bit the air, obvious he was upset. And, obvious Patryk got the call, or, even worse, Paul told him. Paul had been standing a bit behind Patryk, watching the two quietly.  
  
Tord was still holding on the handle of the door, gripping at it a little, refusing to meet his eyes, “Yeah..?”  
  
“We need to talk. I got a call from your school today and- uh! _Tord!_ ” Patryk was astonished when Tord suddenly shut the front door and sprinted past him, towards his bedroom. He only watched him in shock, listening to the door slam shut, and likely be locked. Patryk let out a heavy sigh, shutting his eyes and rubbing his temple a little. “I don’t know what to do with this boy..” He felt a hand on his shoulder, peeking an eye open and glancing to the figure next to him.  
  
Paul gave him a small smile, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Just talk to him. Maybe try to see what had happened instead of just assuming Tord was the only one at fault..?” Paul could tell his son was afraid, and honestly, he would be too if he was in Tord’s shoes. Patryk was fucking scary when he was upset.  
  
“He punched a kid in the face, Paul.”  
  
“And I’m sure there is a reason for it. Do you really think our kid would just punch a kid for fun?”  
  
Patryk went quiet, calming down a little bit. He sighed, shaking his head, returning a kiss to Paul’s cheek and making his way toward Tord’s room. “No, I don’t think he would… I’ll talk to him. But don’t think this lets him off being in trouble!” Patryk called back to the other.  
  
Getting to the bedroom, Patryk grabbed the knob, trying to turn it. Locked. He wasn’t surprised. He let out another sigh, raising a hand and lightly knocking at the door. “Tord, open the door please.”  
  
A muffled “No!” is heard from the other side.  
  
Patryk had to hold himself back from getting upset. He took a deep breath, exhaling it and juggling the knob a little. “I just wanna talk.”  
  
This time only silence, but the door still didn’t open. Patryk frowned, fishing through his pockets for the key to the room, having had it on hand after he got the call. Just in case. He put the key into the lock and twisted it, opening the door with ease. He heard a frightened whimper from the other side of the door as he opened it.  
  
He didn’t see Tord, but he did see the big lump in the blankets of his bed. He stepped over and silently sat himself down on the edge of the bed, staring off at a random wall in the room. “What happened?”  
  
Tord didn’t answer, keeping quiet and only trying to curl up tighter beneath the blankets.  
  
“Tord.”  
  
Tord flinched a little, groaning to himself and peeking out from under his blanket. “I p-punched tom in the face…”  
  
Patryk blinked, finally turning his head to look back in Tord's direction. “Tom? Wait isn’t--- isn’t that the boy you have a crush o-”  
  
“No!!!! I hate him!!!!!” Tord interrupted with a yell, causing Patryk to flinch a little, not having expected the sudden outburst. Tord covered his head with the blanket again, pouting to himself quietly.  
  
“I see… Well, why did you go and punch him?” Patryk asked calmly, staring at the lump in the blankets now.  
  
Tord shifted a little, peeking out from the blanket again, tears burning at the corner of his eyes. “I- Because we were a-arguing and-- and we got more n’ more upset s-so I went to shove Tom away from me b-but…” Tord whimpers, hugging onto his blanket, finally peeking his head out from the sheets entirely. “I accidently s-shoved Edd instead.. And Tom got a-angry.”  
  
Patryk stayed quiet as he listened to Tord explain, not fully understanding, but attempting to. Tord didn’t tell them about his friends much, so he didn’t really know them by name. But he could only assume Edd was another friend of his. “That doesn’t really explain why you punched him though..”  
  
“I- He tried to punch me.. So I was trying to d-defend myself!” Tord quickly explained, sounding honest. Though, Patryk still raised a brow, looking doubtful.  
  
“Uh huh.” Patryk sighed, raising a hand and ruffling the boy’s hair, shaking his head. “I guess if that’s true, you were just doing what you needed to, huh. But, even so, I better not have to hear yet another call about you getting into these fights, understand? I’ll let you off with a warning this time.”  
  
Tord’s face seemed to fill with color, eyes brightening with glee. He gave him a big grin, moving forward and out from the blankets, hugging onto Patryk’s waist tightly. “Thank you Dad!! I won’t do it again, I promise! Pleease don’t take my gameboy away again…” Tord whimpered, remembering the last time he got in trouble for getting into a ‘fight.’ He lost his gameboy for a whole week! A whole week!!  
  
Patryk stared down at him for a second, before letting a smile come to his face, resting a hand on top of his head, rubbing it a little. “Alright, alright. I won’t take your gameboy. But It’ll be 2 weeks if this happens again.”  
  
Tord tensed, but nodded, pulling back from the hug. “I u-understand! I’ll be good…” Tord pouted, glancing to the doorway with a blink, finally noticing Paul, who must have opened the door and started listening in a while ago. “Daddy!!” Tord leaped off the bed, rushing over to him and giving him a hug just like he had Patryk. “Did you hear!! Dad is being nice! I’m gonna be a good boy now!”  
  
Paul grunted when Tord practically leapt into him, letting out a small chuckle and patting his back. “I heard, I heard. I guess we’ll just have to see how things go, huh? Come on, it’s time for your snack, okay?”  
  
Tord grinned wide, nodding and already letting go and dashing out of the room, towards the kitchen. “Yay!!”  
  
A sigh escaped Patryk’s mouth as he pushed himself up from the bed, stepping over to Paul and leaning on him a little. “That was hard. I don’t understand how you do it.”  
  
Paul snickered, pressing a kiss to Patryk’s cheek and taking his hand, beginning to walk towards the kitchen. “You just gotta have patience. He is still young, he’ll learn.”  
  
Patryk rolled his eyes, smiling a little. “I sure hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to update every Tuesday! (please don't hold me to that lmao) So I'm a bit late with this one, but here it is!


	4. Ewww Cooties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul and Pat have a short moment of alone time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay is mentioned in this chapter. Pay is an OC that belongs to @trashpandaballs on tumblr! He is Patryk's slightly younger brother. I might add him into a later chapter?? maybe

Tord had gone to bed.  
  
Paul was already sat in bed, stretching a little to ease his slightly sore muscles, glad to be in the comfy bed finally. He blinked and paused mid-stretch when Patryk stepped into the room, looking almost a little exasperated. “Did you manage to get him to sleep?”   
  
Patryk groaned, flopping onto the bed and gave a nod. “Yeah.. It was hell, like usual. I swear that boy doesn’t need sleep. He is always so energized, ugh.” Patryk rolled over so he could look up at Paul, grabbing one of his hands. “That or, he just can’t fall asleep when he is alone. If I leave before he falls asleep, he ends up whining at me to stay and wakes back up from whatever half-sleep he was in.”   
  
Paul let out a slight chuckle, rubbing his thumb against Patryk’s hand gently. “He’ll have to learn to sleep on his own, though. He is turning 11 soon.” Paul reminded, always attempting to try and help Patryk out of constantly babying Tord.  
  
“Yeah, I know…” Patryk let out a sigh, letting go of the hand and pushing himself up, getting himself under the covers with Paul, cuddling himself against him. He grabbed his hand again after getting settled, raising it to press a small kiss to it. “I just don’t want him to get older, I guess.”   
  
Paul gave him a small smile, nodding. “I know you don’t, I don’t either. But it’s gonna happen, so we might as well make it as easy as possible for him to adjust to it, right?”  
  
Patryk couldn’t help but nod, knowing he was right. He gave a smile back in return, squeezing at his hand a little. “Yeah, we should do that for him. You’re right.” Patryk shifted a little, pressing a kiss to Paul’s cheek. “I love you.”  
  
Grinning a bit when he was given the kiss, Paul turned his head, pressing a kiss to Patryk’s lips in return. “I love you too.”  
  
Patryk’s cheeks flushed a slight pink when given the kiss, but a bigger smile came to his face and he nuzzled his face against Paul’s, tempted to turn the small set of affections into a game. “I love you more.”   
  
Paul didn’t take long at all to catch on, snorting a little to himself and raising a brow. “Oh yeah? But what if I love you even moree?” Paul teased, laughing a little when he felt Patryk push him away a little.  
  
“No way! It’s not possible, I don’t believe it.” Patryk stuck his tongue out in Paul’s direction, holding back laughter while doing so. “You’d have to prove it.” Patryk challenged, giving him a smug grin.   
  
Paul stared at him for a few seconds, thinking over what he could possibly do to deem good enough to prove his love’s worth. He held back a grin, pausing for a moment. “I don’t knowww… maybe-- this?” Paul moved quickly to attempt to swiftly lean over Patryk, pressing a kiss to his lips for a few seconds. He pulled back, cheeks a bright red now, his slight embarrassment showing.  
  
Patryk was stunned into silence for a whole moment, staring up at him. He snickered for a second, before suddenly laughing, wrapping his arms around the back of his neck, nuzzling against his nose. “I love you.”  
  
Paul’s cheeks grew heated as he stared down at him, unable to pull the smile off his face. “I love you too.” Paul let out a sigh, still smiling and shifting to rest himself against him again, nuzzling his head against Patryk’s chest, sliding his eyes shut.  
  
“You know I’ve been thinking…”   
  
Paul blinked when Patryk spoke up again, glancing up in his direction. “What’s up?”   
  
“I’ve been thinking… We should ask Pay to come and watch Tord sometime soon. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a day to ourselves, ya know?” Patryk continued, giving Paul a small smile. “Yeah?”   
  
Paul thought about it for a short moment, but chuckled right after, shrugging. “I guess that’s not too bad of an idea. Are you sure Pay is the best choice though?”   
  
“Who else would we ask? Who else _can_ we ask?”   
  
Paul frowned a little, nodding. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. We can do that. How about this weekend?”   
  
Giving a bigger grin, Patryk nodded, shifting their position again so he could press a kiss to Paul’s cheek. “That’s good with me.”   
  
Meeting Patryk’s eyes, Paul still had a smile on his face, his usual constant state of frowning usually being wiped away when he was with Patryk. Paul pressed another small kiss to Patryk’s lips, holding it for a few seconds.  
  
Patryk responded easily though, pushing them back into a kiss when Paul moved away, raising a hand and running it through the man’s hair. He was about to deepen the kiss further, when a voice interrupted them.  
  
“Daaadd.. I can’t sleeep..!” Tord’s small voice rang out, the small boy standing in the doorway of the parents’ room, pillow in hand. Tord blinked, watching the two scramble to sit up. Tord wasn’t dumb though, and he gave them a childish look of disgust. “Ewwww…… were you two kissing?? That’s gross!”  
  
Paul groaned, face burning a little as he covered his face, falling back to lay on the bed. Patryk let out a heavy sigh, rubbing a hand through his messy hair and motioning for Tord to come over. “Come on, Tord. You can sleep with us tonight.” Patryk didn’t comment on Tord’s question, simply offering what he was sure Tord came in there for in the first place.  
  
Tord’s attention span quickly shifted, and he gave him a small smile, quickly wobbling over and climbing into the bed, plopping his pillow down and settling himself in between the two of them. “Thank you, daddy.”   
  
Patryk nodded, rubbing Tord’s hair and pressing a small kiss to his forehead. “Just get to sleep, okay? You have school in the morning.”   
  
Tord gave a nod, letting out a big yawn as he found himself easily falling to sleep within not even a minute. Patryk watched him, keeping a smile on his face. He glanced to Paul, leaning over and kissing his cheek before settling back down. “Goodnight, Paul.”  
  
Paul sighed, cuddling himself against the two of them. “Goodnight, Pat.”


	5. Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pay babysits Tord for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay is an OC that belongs to @trashpandaballs on tumblr! He is Patryk's slightly younger brother. 
> 
> ~this chapter occurs during the upcoming weekend mentioned in the last chapter!

“-and don’t forget he has to be in bed by 8, and god, _god_ if anything happens call me. If that doesn’t work, call the police instead.” Patryk listed off the many reminders, as he had been for the past 30 minutes.  
  
“Patryk, we gotta go.” Paul reminded, tugging on his arm a little. “Tord will be fine. He always is.”  
  
Pay nodded, grinning at the two and lifting his arms in the air a little, shrugging. “Yeah, come on Pat, when have I failed you?” His grin turned more sheepish when he received a quick look from Patryk. “Okay, okay, I won’t fail you _this_ time. I promise!”   
  
“Paaat..” Paul groaned, tugging on him again, pulling him towards the front door.  
  
Patryk sighed, taking a deep breath to relax. “Alright. Don’t kill him please. Tord! We’re leaving!” Patryk called out towards the stairs, quickly triggering the small boy to come running.  
  
Tord hugged himself onto Patryk for a moment, then did the same to Paul, grinning at them. “Bye!” Tord always got excited when they left, though not for that reason. He just _loved_ when uncle Pay came to babysit. He was so much more fun than his parents were!  
  
Patryk and Paul gave their last goodbyes and left the house, Paul in much more of a rush than Patryk was, likely due to his fear of them not getting to the restaurant in time for their reservation.  
  
Pay shut the door behind them and let out a sigh, thankful to finally get to stop listening to Patryk’s nagging voice. He turned to face Tord, giving him a grin. “So kid, whatcha wanna do? Wanna do that thing where he slide down the stairs with your mattress again?”  
  
“Yeah!!!!” Tord cheered, bouncing up a little. He quickly zoomed back to the stairs, making his way up and to his bedroom, already making quick work of pulling the sheets and pillows off of it.  
  
Pay took his time following after him, hands shoved into his pockets. He searched them for his small flask of vodka, having hid it from Patryk so he couldn’t take it from him. He took a gulp of it as he got to the top of the stairs, enjoying the burning down his throat. He let out a soft chuckle when he stepped into Tord’s bedroom to see him uselessly pulling at the empty mattress. “Okay kid, you’ll have to help me, since you’re _so_ strong.”  
  
Setting his flask back into his pocket, Pay stepped over and grabbed onto one end of the small twin-sized mattress, pulling it with (mostly) ease, while Tord pushed on the other end of it. It didn’t take long to get it positioned in place on the top of the stairs.  
  
Pay grabbed a few of Tord’s pillows and lazily placed them on the mattress, using it as a weak attempt at protection if anything went wrong. “Alright kiddo, get on.”   
  
“Yayy!!” Tord hopped himself onto the soft surface, a grin wide on his face in excitement at the situation. Pay sat himself down right after, pulling Tord against him and giving him a grin. “You ready?”  
  
Tord gave him an eager nod, and with that Pay used his body weight to shift the mattress until it tipped and began to slide down the stairs. His facial expression didn’t change much but Tord began to cheer in glee as they slid down. Pay forgot about the harsh jolt when the mattress hit the bottom though, and he gasped a little when Tord flew off the mattress a few feet. Tord slid across the hardwood floor until he knocked into one of the side tables in the hallway, a smash of glass sounding right after.  
  
“Shit.” Pay groaned, rubbing a hand over his face and taking his flask out again, pushing himself up and taking another large gulp from it, nearly finishing it right then and there. “You alright, kid?”  
  
Tord slowly pushed himself up to his knees, rubbing at his face and his arms, thankfully mostly unharmed. He might have a few bruises though, but he hopped up to his feet with a big grin, turning to face him and giving him a thumbs up. “I’m good!!”  
  
“But that isn’t.” Pay stopped next to him, pointing at the broken picture frame on the floor. Pay sucked in a breath, holding it as he knelt down and grabbed it, lifting it to see exactly what picture it had been. He winced and shut his eyes tight right after. Of course it was one of their wedding pictures. _Of course!_   
  
He was dead. He might as well write his will now.  In reality, he could just head to the store with Tord and buy a new frame. But, he didn’t have _that_ much common sense. “Tord, grab the tape.”  
  
Tord nodded quickly, rushing off out of the room, and coming back shortly after with some scotch tape in hand.  
  
Pay took the tape and began to pick up the pieces from the frame off the floor, carefully putting it back together like a puzzle. He took long lines of the scotch tape and placed it over the shattered glass, holding it all together crudely. Once the frame was sloppily back together, he placed it back in place, and cleaned up the last of the small tiny piece of glass. Then, all that was left was putting Tord’s bed back in place, leaving no evidence of what happened.   
  
He let out a heavy sigh, plopping himself down on the couch and taking the last gulp of his flask, groaning when nothing else came out of it afterwards. “I’m not drunk enough for this.”  
  
Tord hopped himself onto the couch next to him, tilting his head and frowning at him. “Are you okay, Uncle Pay?”  
  
“Yeah, I’m fine kid-- uh, shit. You’re supposed to be in bed. It’s almost 9.” He winced, earning a long whine from Tord in response. “Fine, fine, you can stay up. You gotta stick with me though until they get home.”  
  
“Yay!!!” Tord cheered, snuggling himself up against him. Pay glanced down at him, raising a brow for a second, before finding a grin making its way to his face. Thank god Patryk raised a good kid at least.  
  
---  
  
It was only about an hour before the front door opened, Patryk’s voice being the first thing to ring out. “Pay! We’re home!!”  
  
Tord gasped and quickly hopped up from where he had been watching cartoons, still leaned on Pay, who was easily unconscious in a deep nap at this point. “Dadd!!” He giggled, hugging onto Patryk’s waist tightly. He widened his eyes and grinned more, letting go and doing the same for Paul who came behind Patryk moments later. “Hi! I had a lot of fun with Uncle Pay!!”  
  
Patryk held back from commenting on why Tord wasn’t in bed yet, simply giving him a smile and nodding. “Did you? That’s good. Uh-- where is your Uncle?”  
  
Tord pointed to the living room, hopping along toward it and sitting down in front of the TV, quickly turning his attention back to his cartoon.  
  
Paul set down their leftovers from dinner in the kitchen and moved over to urge Tord to bed, shutting off the TV and ignored his complains and whines for at least 10 more minutes of TV time. Patryk on the other hand stepped over to Pay, blinking and glancing to the flask still in his hand. He let out a heavy sigh, running a hand through his own hair. He had a good night, and Tord wasn’t dead, so he decided to just not bother.  
  
He ruffled Pay’s hair a little, chuckling. “Thanks for watching him. I know it takes a lot out of ya.” He didn’t care if Pay actually heard him or not, and grabbed one of the throw blankets for the couch, draping it over him and getting everyone settled for bed. It wasn’t a complete disaster after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pat found the broken frame the next morning. Needless to say, pray for Pay.


End file.
